Thundersdawn PT6: The Meaning Of Command
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: Trouble hits the Tau'ri when an old enemy returns, and a major victory comes back to haunt them...
1. Reflections

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

For the record: I do not own, nor do I claim ownership of characters or concepts from Stargate SG-1, or any other tv series/movie/book used within.

Chapter 1: Reflections

Captain Peters watched the fleet vanish into the depths of Hyper with mixed feelings. While she couldn't deny that the vessels had to go to reinforce Blastboat and Valour's Hour she was unhappy about the state of the ships. Of course, only Persephone was in bad enough shape to loss her SPACOMSAFE designation (SPAce COMbat SAFE) but unsurprisingly considering they had just been in a major engagement, every one of the returning warships had had several red crosses marks on the checklist. Her engineers had done as much as they can to reduce the list of down checks whilst the fleet was rearming but there had not been enough time to deal with them all, and the ships own engineers having dealt with every critical repair had largely been gassed into unconsciousness by their captains to ensure they got some sleep.

As far as the new Merchant class fleet support ship, which she had named Liberty in honour of the Liberty ships of World War 2, she had her SPACESAFE designation but could hardly be called finished, the majority of the crew facilities would have to be completed on route for instance, but relief supplies were needed and Liberty was the only ship capable of carrying them in significant amounts so that, as they say, was that, and Liberty was sent.

Now she had to figure out why the Darkside sensor array on Lunar wasn't working, allowing the Al-kesh Doug Masters and his Eagles had kicked for six to approach, and more importantly why nobody had noticed the failure. Somebody's head was going to roll for that one, that's for certain.

She also had to figure out what to do with Persephone. She was a dry-dock job, that was certain as the abrupt failure of the bridge controls had caused several safeties of the kind that only dry-dock's can remove to slowly slip into place, disabling the hyperdrive. So not only did those safeties have to be removed and replaced but it also meant an investigation. Why had the body hitting the control panel caused the bridge controls to fail? They were cushioned against knocks so that shouldn't have happened. Not only that by why had it triggered the safeties? Those particular safeties were supposed to prevent a massive power surge causing an instability within the reactor core, and not only had they been triggered by a power spike from the damaged bridge controls that barely registered and should have been well below the safeties threshold but had caused the safeties to slowly slip into place, instead of slamming into place, which to put it mildly, was indicative of a possible major safety issue.

But she had no-where to put Persephone. Bay 8 was the only empty bay large enough to house a cruiser as large as a Prometheus class but she was configured for Merchant class hulls and reconfiguring was out of the question. Bays 1 and 7 housed Prometheus class ships under construction, bay 2 held a pair of MTB's that were just fragile skeletons at the moment and the other bays, numbers 3 through 6, were loaded with Dauntless'es that were under construction. The earth side bay where Prometheus had originally been constructed held a pair of MTB's that were under construction so that was ruled out.   
Peters sighed, that left only one choice really. She turned around from the curved window of her office and flicked on the intercom.

"Dodge, this is Peter's"  
"Yes Captain?"   
"Report to my office please"  
"I'm on my way"

The SGC might not like her decision, but it's the only choice she had for the moment. Persephone would have to operate as a system defence and training ship for the moment, restricted to this solar system. All her other damage could be repaired without a dry-dock but the hyper drive could not, and so Persephone would have to be restricted to this system till the end of the week when the new Prometheus class cruiser Roosevelt would launch, then Persephone would get priority on the bay. Until then, her HYPSAFE (HYPer SAFE) designation would be revoked.

Peters frowned. SPACOMSAFE, SPACESAFE, HYPSAFE? Bloody yanks had to insist on butchered names for everything. It was annoying.

A knock came at her door and Captain Dodge poked his head through. Time to face the music then.  
"Dodge, come in! It's about Persephone…"

****


	2. Inspection

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 2: Inspection

Captain Peters strode quickly, but quietly through the massive station, her SGC liaison and newly appointed second in command Captain Dodge USN and Ensign Tobias, her current personal assistant at her side as they looked for anything that breeched regulations, any safety issues, anything out of place really. This was an unscheduled inspection too, so they should catch the worst offenders red handed.

Peters strode into the enlisted mess without pausing, pushing the heavy steal door to one side with the ease of long practice. A Leading Rating glanced up to see who was entering and stiffened before jumping to her feet.  
"Captain O' the Deck" she shouted. With muffled curses and groans, the crew filling the room jumped to their feet, snapping TV's off, dropping pool cues, and cards. "Inspection time everyone, stand at ease" Peters said loudly, projecting her voice through the room. The enlisted people shared uneasy glances, and shifted to the At Ease stance as Peter's and Dodge moved through the room, calling violations to the ensign, here at least they were few and far between, unless the enlisted quarters they had just come from. "Airmen Rogers, Paterson, Technician O'Malley, and Corporal Jones, Betting" Peters called out, then turned to the enlisted she had named with a sign, "Why money? If you had used cigarettes, sticks, anything bar money nothing would have been said but playing Cards for money?" she shook her head "Defaulters desk, tomorrow"  
"Inspection Hatch 8-C2-149 damaged" Dodge called out.  
The ensign checked the maintenance logs through her PDA, "No report"  
"Log it" 

Fifteen minutes later the three left the Enlisted mess having found 43 violations, an new low for a surprise inspection and made their way to the next target, the Fighter bays.

"Severe Violation, Outer and inner locks open" Dodge said sharply to the ensign as Peters cycled the inner lock closed with a curse and a glare. Heads would roll for that one. With that they strode into the fighter bays, closing the outer airlock as they passed through. "Severe Violation" Peters snapped out, "Failure to wear proper safety equipment, no goggles whilst welding, yes that means you Ensign! And you're supposed to be duty officer on this deck! Try setting a better example" "This could take awhile" Dodge added, glancing around the busy bay, his eyes picking up several violations to add to those already discovered. Whilst Peters didn't bother much with some of the regulations, she was murder on anything that could be taken as a safety hazard; an attitude Dodge had no problem with at all. He stiffened, his eyes latching onto a repair crew working on a Lancer 1IS. "Severe Violation!" he snapped to the ensign, "Welding a Lancer with missiles still attached"  
This looked like being a long day. 

Peters sat down in her office with a groan. At least this inspection was over, but it had shown an increasing number of stupid mistakes, like that idiot welding a Lancer with the missiles still attached. They were receiving too many people who were half-trained, having been sent into the program as soon as they knew their arse from their elbows and it was causing problems, and would no doubt continue to do so. Well, she had a full defaulters table tomorrow to deal with, plus five new courts martial to arrange, and… A knock at her door interrupted her,   
"Come in"

Kalinda poked her head in through the door, "Peters, two of those Al-kesh the fleet sent has a cloak, I was thinking maybe Devonshire…" She trailed off as Peters nodded, Devonshire was Dauntless Batch 2 prototype currently under construction, and unlike earlier Dauntless class ships had a special coating designed to reduce the return generated by Goa'uld sensors, a derivative of the coating currently used on stealth aircraft but much more sophisticated. In was another step in the direction the Dauntless class was always intended for, bringing the tactics and advantages of submarines into space. Right now they had the evasive capability, the crash-start ability, and the weapons, the stealth coating plus a cloak would make the Devonshire very difficult to detect, just like a submarine and with the Decoy drones having finally arrived and being rigged for use by Devonshire she would gain an unprecedented Ambush capability. "Go for it, just get me a written proposal for the record ASAP" Peters smiled at the civilian genius, "Good idea" 


	3. Inferno

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 3: Inferno

The shattering ringing of alarms shattered Peters sleep; she jumped to her feet with accurse, and then blanched as the words over the intercom hit her sleep fuddled brain.

"Fire in Graving Dock 3! This is not a drill! All fire and damage control parties to graving dock 3!" Peters throw her uniform on and sprinted out of her quarters. This was, to put it mildly, bad. Graving Dock 3 held _Devonshire _and fire damage would put her construction back by weeks at the very least, months most likely. It took her five minutes to arrive at the graving dock, and as she arrived she noted grim faced security arriving and sealing the area off. The senior fire officer quickly noted her approach and signalled her over. "Sabotage" Lieutenant Thomason said grimly.  
Peters froze in shook, "Are you shitting me?" She replied incredulously.  
"The fire suppression systems in this sector have been disabled; most of the foam hook-ups for the hoses have been epoxied closed and a virus shut the alarms off, the alarm had to be raised manually, not only that but most of the vents are none operational and we cant get to the to find out why"  
Peters cursed as she realised Thomason meant every word of it, "Okay, they in suits in there?"  
"Only basic skin suits, they would have 15 minutes max before the cold outside killed them"  
"Get a SAR bird outside on the double, and then open the main doors" Peters turned around to the security officers "Seal the base, no one enters, no one leaves, I don't care what authority they have, understood?"  
The officers nodded, and she turned back to the dock. 'Sabotage' she thought disgustedly, 'beautiful'   
"Peters to command, Critique Flash traffic! Peters to command!"   
Peters looked up and cursed as the message came over the intercom, she had a fire to deal with for heavens sakes!   
"Thomason, deal with the fire, and keep me appraised!" Peters snapped, then hurtled up to the bridge, scattering crewpersons in her wake. "What is it?"  
Dodge winched, Peters was definitely not in a good mood, though that was understandable considering her command had a fire in its belly.  
"_Paladin_ 1-6-12 was investigating why the Darkside sensor platform didn't pick up the _Al-kesh_ the Eagles dealt with, they just hit the panic button, we should have A/V in a few secs" he sipped his coffee, then added "How's the fire?"  
"The fire itself is relatively minor, we dealt with worse during the last attack but there are…" Peters hesitated, then spat then spat the last word out, "complications"  
Dodge frowned, complications? In that tone of voice? Trouble, very definitely trouble. He looked around as static burst from the speakers, then the main screen came on, showing an blonde haired Ensign in an RSS spacesuit, her helmet removed with the cockpit of a _Paladin_ in the background. "Captain, the station was purposely dismantled, most of it has been removed and the remaining flash drives have been wiped, we did find a body though. One of them appears to have sliced their suit on the inside of the station, then failed to put the patch on properly, allowing it to give"  
"Any ideas who they were?" Peters replied, anger and frustration filling her voice.  
"Not yet, we're running an id on the body but all we know so far is that they have access to SGC equipment…" the ensign trailed off, her eyes on a console to the left of the camera.   
Suddenly she stiffened, "We have a match on the body, it's coming through… Son of a bitch! NID! ing NID!"  
Peters and Dodge exchanged startled glances, "Are you sure?"  
"Match probability is 97% Ma'am!" the ensign replied, coldness filling her voice as she shifted in her seat, allowing the St Athan Defence medal to become visible, "I'm sure" 

****


	4. State Of Alert

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 4: State Of Alert

Peters was not a happy Captain. The fire in _Devonshire's_ graving dock was easy to put out, they just exposed the area to vacuum as soon as they could, and the SAR _Paladin_ variant had successfully rescued all the construction workers before their skinsuits went OBE, though eight of the crew would be spending a lot of time in sickbay recovering from a combination of frostbite and heat burns, a combination that could only happen in space. But _Devonshire_ was wounded, fire damage had destroyed a lot of cabling and the primary computer core, which would have to be completely replaced. Not only that but the graving dock itself would need to be completely refitted before it could be used again. Not just because every safety system had been deliberately compromised by persons unknown, but Peters was willing to bet on a group of NID operatives, but they had left several 'surprises' behind for the repair crews. Her best engineer, a Commander Hutchinson, a man who was often compared to Star Treks Scotty for his genius for engineering matters was dead, killed by a claymore hidden behind an extinguisher access panel. Several more such devices had been found, and EOD were having a field day all over the station. Who ever the moles were, and it could only be a group, no single person could manage this much chaos, had obviously been putting pieces into place for months.

Peters sighed as she felt the station give the characteristic shudder which meant a large vessel was cutting loose from the station, which would be_ Persephone_, taking another group of non-essential personnel to a secure facility, RSS _Coalmine_ she thought it was for this group. All non-essential personnel were being evacuated, with so many unauthorised explosive packages being discovered, with safety systems across the station in doubt, hell with security so compromised Peters was half expecting to see _Thundersdawn's_ spec's in tomorrows Times newspaper, it was the only choice really. _Thundersdawn_ was effectively off-line. 

GC, RSS/RAF St Athan

Admiral Thompson was not a happy bunny either, in fact he was way beyond angry, in that small grey area where the voice is calm, the manner controlled, the senses clear and only the slight tic of the eye muscles, and the red fiery glint in the eyes to let the world know that this four star Admiral was ticked off. The Williams twins had seen all the signs and were trying hard to point the fallout in a meaningful direction, which they were beginning to think, would be any direction where they weren't and where the NID was, preferably.

"Any idea whom the NID agents on _Thundersdawn_ are?" Thompson said his voice too calm, his hands folded placidly on the desk.  
"Analysis suggests at least one person in every department, Admiral" Sarah said, watching Thompson carefully.  
The Admirals eye ticked, that was a Bad sign.  
"Every department you say? Including security?"  
"Yes, Admiral. Probably several in security"  
Thompson smiled tightly, "Several in security, which makes sense I suppose" The Williams twins glanced sideways at each other, mentally making the same comment, 'he's smiling? Oh shit!' There was a reason Thompson had been given the call sign Elemental by the flyboys, he was the perfect incarnation of the old saying, "Beware the fury of a patient man". He could take anything, all the crap that would cause most people to lose their cool would be water of a ducks back, but push the right button… The flyboys of the RAF and the RNFAA had found this out the hard way, and afterwards, when they recovered they had called him the sixth elemental after Water, Air, Fire, Earth and some parts of the world would add Wood. Right now, the Admiral was heading towards Elemental. "Remind me again, what's the penalty for sabotage and arson in space?"  
"Depends on when and where they're caught, if they caught whilst the ship is in combat or on mission, they will taste vacuum. Still could, even if that's not the case. It wasn't that long ago that you can hang for arson in a naval dockyard dirtside"  
The tic returned to Thompson's face, and the Williams twins almost breathed a sigh of relief, the explosion had been averted for now at least.  
"Good, what about the other facilities?" Joan reached for her PDA and began glancing through the reports that were coming in, "_Coalmine_ reports all clear, no indications; _Minehead _reports all clear officially but there's a P4 tag, requesting further background checks on 7 enlisted and 3 officers in particular"   
Joan looked up from the PDA, "There has to be NID on base here, it doesn't make sense for there not to be, we're running another set of background checks and security will be doing a round of surprise inspections and random searches but we don't expect any immediate results"  
"Keep security on an increased state of alert, and co-ordinate with Taskforce Lucifer, and remember to keep the buggers away from me 'cos I'll rip them apart with my bare hands if I get a hold of the bloody bastards!" Thompson spat out, his eye ticking like crazy.  
'You and everyone else' Joan and Sarah added silently. 

Notes:   
OBE: Overcome By Events  
EOD: Explosives Ordinance Disposal, the 'bomb' disposal experts.  
RNFAA: Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm  
P4: Personal For


	5. Raids and Arrests

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 5: Raids and Arrests

It wasn't often that Joan Williams went on an operation, but this one she wouldn't miss, and as a senior officer was supposed to be present… Well, it paid to be able to pull strings. She looked around at the SAS patrol that would lead the assault, the MP's, ready and more than willing to make arrests and the civilian Police advisors, here for their experience in raids on houses and similar properties, not a common duty for the MP's and the SAS usually were more concerned with leaving no evidence, than ensuring all the evidence survived.

A tip-off, just a conversation overheard in a bar in Cardiff and reported to the Army recruiting office was what brought them here. A retired army officer who had listened, heard a group in civvies arguing about the best way to smuggle explosives onto a ship under increased security and hadn't hesitated to report it, even if he hadn't understood the RSS reference, he had heard it, noted it was significant and made sure it was in his report. The Police of both military and civilian branches had shaken there heads in wonder at that and just commented on lucky breaks and how they wished they were more common. Breaks like that they could live with more of. "Movement! Upper window, rear left"  
"Copy your movement, any ID?" Joan replied into the radio.  
"Wait one… Looks like Tango 5"  
"Tango 5… That's an SAS Lieutenant by the name of Grey" Joan pointed out to the civvies Police advisors.   
"Tango 4 just appeared… Tango 2 as well, that's all three heat sources accounted for, all in the back bedroom"  
"All units, this is Raid Actual, GO GO GO!" Joan spoke slowly, deliberately into her radio, there was not going to be any mistaking this call. Swiftly, silently the entry team sprinted across the grass covered space between the houses and into the garden the garden of the target house. A sledge hammer was brought forth, and the door battered down, allowing the entry team to pour into the house, a black tide of men and weapons filing quickly into every room.   
"Downstairs, secured" an excited youthful voice shouted over the radio, just before the staccato sound of automatic gunfire filled the air.  
"Shots fired, shots fired!"  
The gunfire abruptly cut off.  
"Tango 2, secured! Tango 5, secured! Tango 4 is down, building is secure."  
Joan flicked the dial on her radio, quickly selecting another channel, "Alpha team has Tangos 2, 4 and 5, all other teams you have a go!" 

Beta Team, _Paladin_ Hangers

"Beta Actual copies" Sarah Williams replied into her radio, the she gestured to the team behind her and they strode around the corner of the hanger, and through its open main doors, heading swiftly for the waiting _Paladin_, and the repair crew curiously watching their approach.  
"Airman First Class Rogers" she pointed her rifle straight at Rogers, and with steel in her voice said "You are under arrest on the charges of Treason, conspiracy to commit treason, conspiracy to commit arson and smuggling explosives with the intention to cause explosions"  
Rogers glanced at the guns pointed at him, and raised his hands defeated.  
"Tango 1 in custody" Sarah reported.  
"Copy" came Joan's voice over the radio, "All teams report!"  
"Delta team, no tango's, but forensics looks good"  
"Gamma team, Tango's 6 and 7 in the bag, request EOD"  
"X-ray team here, no sign of tango 3, attempting entry now"

A muffled crump filled the air, as a cloud of debris and smoke entered the sky above St Athan Village.  
"Oh shit" Sarah commented, looking up from the road ahead at the expanding cloud of debris. "Looks like somebody had an accident doesn't it? Pity" the handcuffed Rogers commented.  
"Can it!"  
"X-ray team report!" the radio blared. "X-ray team, come in" 


	6. Taskforce Lucifer

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 6: Taskforce Lucifer

USAF Passenger jet, en-route to RSS/RAF St Athan

Sir John Patrick Ryan was not a happy man, he along with Ding Chavez and John Clark had been assigned to command Taskforce Lucifer in the bringing down of the Rogue agency, NID National Intelligence Directorate, and their lackeys, men such as the former Senator Kinsley and Colonel Makepeace who had been one of the few survivors of the St Athan assault. He had thought they were making headway, especially with the willing help Maybourne and several loyalist agents were providing but obviously they were wrong. The level to which the RSS had been infiltrated indicated the NID had far more agents still available to it than they have believed possible even in the worst case estimates, and far too much power. Even worse, for the taskforce to be caught this far of base suggested Taskforce Lucifer had been infiltrated; some of his people were traitors. And that didn't sit well with Ryan at all, he disliked traitors with a passion, a traitor in the British Home Office had almost cost him his family and his life on several occasions, and that didn't sit well with him at all.

At least the RSS had successfully captured a whole host of active agents and their equipment. That little haul should give them enough intelligence to grab several more agents, or at least tell him who to have watched, though it was unlucky that at least one agent had escaped with knowledge of the RSS and its equipment, especially an agent who was immoral enough to rig a residential area with hidden claymores and his house with more explosives just in case he was discovered. A full breech team had been lost and several houses in the area had had to be condemned according to the reports he had received. He hoped he caught that thing before the brits did, they would quite cheerfully tear him limb from limb for that, 'at least his people would interrogate him before they tore him limb from limb' Ryan thought with uncharacteristic cynicism. "Ryan, we've completed the background checks RSS Minehead specifically requested" Ding broke into the CIA agents thoughts "Most look clean and the FBI profiler, Clarice Sterling agrees, but 2 of the officers and one of the enlisted are coming up short on their profile, Clarice insists there background has to be false even though there is no other sign of it"   
"Clarice says the backgrounds iffy?" Chavez nodded in confirmation, "Pass the word to RSS security, and have them monitored"  
"Aye, sir" Ding nodded, and left for the comm. suite at the front of the jet.  
Another three possibly in the bag, well it was a start. Now they just had to find out who the moles in Lucifer were. 

GC, St Athan

Joan walked into the Admirals office carrying her ubiquitous PDA to find the Admiral not sat at his desk, but looking out the window over the hanger below, still in use as the primary small craft development and experimentation area. Joan approached and quickly saw what he was looking it, _Striker_. Currently just a hollow shell, this craft was intended to be the A-10 Warthog to the_ Lancers_ Dogfighter. A craft with a punch equal to a _Dauntless,_ if not the survivability but at significantly reduced cost in personnel, materials and time, _Striker_ was the brainchild of a team of experts from both the RSS and SGC and would cover the lack of heavy hitting capabilities present in both the_ Lancers _and the _F-302's_. But right now that was in the distant future.

"Sir" Joan said softly, breaking the tired Admiral out of his revere, "Lucifer Actual just put a watch order on 3_ Minehead _personnel, he says his profiler twitched"  
"Pass it on to security" he replied tiredly.  
"Also a report from _Thundersdawn_, a security patrol caught a comm. ensign trying to trigger an illegal data dump to an earthbound IP address, we're tracing the address but it looks like a mobile, possibly an aircraft at this point"  
Thompson sighed, "It's never easy, is it? Pass it on to Lucifer"  
"Aye, sir" Joan looked worriedly at the Admiral before quietly leaving. 


	7. Watchers

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 7: Watchers

Joe's Bar, Seacouver

Duncan and Conner Macleod stiffened simultaneously, and turned to face the door as the feel of an approaching immortal hit them. Then just as quickly they relaxed as an old friend passed through the heavy wooden door into the blues bar.

"The old goat appears!" Conner smiled marginally "and with head still attached, we were beginning to wonder"  
"Adam, long time no see"  
"Did you have to do that to your watcher?" Joe demanded, stomping out of the back store room.  
"Oh really, what did the old haggis do this time?"  
"Nothing much, just 'arranged' for them to volunteer for trials of a new piles treatment" Joe replied sarcastically. Conner and Duncan spat their drinks out, coughing heavily. Methos just grinned; he had thought it one of his more interesting ways to get the watchers off his back, at least only an handful of the watchers knew who he really was and they were keeping their mouths shut. "So, what have you been doing old man?" Duncan asked when he finally regained control over his voice. Joe perked up; he wanted to know the answer to that one too. Then he saw Methos's expression, and he put his beer down, followed quickly by the two Macleod's, when he got that expression on his face, you knew you weren't gonna like the response. "Oh, nothing much, just signed up and joined a top secret government project that's all" Methos grinned as he watched the faces of his three friends, their expressions made that comment more than worth while, "Actually I cant stay long, gotta plane to catch to Wales, then I'll be off the radar for a while, but in the meantime I'd kill for a pint…" 

RSS Minehead, Ore Receiving Bay 1

Lieutenant Commander Ryan David Richardson, RSS Security and Internal Affairs division cursed inwardly as he get into the clumsy and bulky Armoured spacesuit required for belt mining operations, he absolutely hated these things! He knew it was necessary to watch his subjects, one of whom was in charge of asteroid retrieval, the second commanded the SAR _Paladin _regulations stipulated be on call at all times at facilities such as this one, and the third and final being airlock maintenance and control, but that's still didn't mean he had to like it. It was the perfect setup if you wanted to illegally divert some raw Naquadah ore he supposed, number one, an RAAF Flight Lieutenant by the name of David Patterson grabbed a small asteroid, and placed it in an airlock where number 3, Master Warrant Officer Frasier RCAF arranged for it to be hidden until number 2, Captain Alicia Rosen USAF could take it aboard the SAR Paladin and arrange a rendezvous with an NID controlled shuttle, of which the NID was now believed to have at least 4, plus a hidden facility somewhere in the asteroid belt.

Hopefully today he would be able to prove these three were dirty, his instincts said they were very dirty, and the theory fitted but there was no proof. But he felt today was the day, those three had definitely been exchanging signals by gestures, even if he didn't know the code, and they hadn't done that before. So today he would follow them in his modified space suit, and hopefully get a recording of the handovers. If he could get that then a Lancer or two would be put on call for whenever he felt the next Naquadah theft was, and the SAR Paladin followed, hopefully right back to the NID base. At which point, the NID base would have a very unusual rain to deal with, not water as was usual for a ground installation, or micrometeorites which was the norm for a space installation, but special forces troopers, a rain most people would much rather do without. A rain the NID would most certainly not appreciate. He stepped through into the airlock, and checked the readouts on his blacked out suit one last time, all good, slowly the lock cycled and he was able to jet off around the station, anchoring himself in a shadowed area within site of the airlocks. He would wait, and then he would follow. Today he would find the proof he needed. 


	8. Elemental is Down!

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 8: Elemental is Down!

GC St Athan

The Williams twins watched the Admiral with worried eyes, he was ill, they could see that but the stubborn man refused to see the doctor, insisting he was okay and he didn't have the time. They didn't believe a word of it, and had vowed at the slightest sign of his condition getting worse, they would sic medical on him whether he felt he needed it or not.

"Sir, I've been checking up on our stocks on Goa'uld equipment and I believe I have an idea" Sarah replied, the surprised look Joan gave her not going unnoticed by Thompson, even in his weakened condition. "Go on" he gestured assent with a shaky hand.  
"Well, after what Intel and R&D grabbed, we have 2 Shielded Al-kesh, 2 Cloaked Al-kesh, and enough Udajeets sink a battleship available, so I was thinking maybe we should bring Top Gun into the 21st century?"  
"Do it, Sarah you'll take point at this end and coordinate with the SGC, see if you can get Maverick or Iceman involved as well" Thompson gave a weak grin, "and if Maverick bothers you just remind him that Elemental still has the video tapes he doesn't want his wife to see" 

Joe's Bar, Seacouver

Methos grinned as he ducked into the men's room, it had been a while since he had the Highlander and the Boy Scout and he was glad to see them again, even if it was for just a short time. He might not have had many friends in his very long existence, but those he considered friends he treasured, and the Macleod's and Joe certainly qualified. He ducked into a cubicle, closing the door after him. About a minute later, he heard two people enter, talking quietly between themselves. At first he paid no attention, but then a word registered, and he stiffened, and began listening very closely, cursing himself for not paying attention earlier.

Five minutes later he dived out of the room like the devil himself was after him, and jumped over the bar into Joe's backroom, frantically dialling a number into the phone in the room from memory.  
"Lieutenant Adam Pierson 8994467 for General Hammond, emergency" he breathlessly spoke into the phone.  
"Sir, I just overheard a conversation you really need to know about"  
"Sir, it is sir, it concerns Admiral Thompson"  
"Sir, I believe the NID is poisoning the Admiral" 

GC St Athan

Sarah and Joan darted forward shocked as Thompson collapsed forward in his seat, his hand over his heart and lips greyed, heart attack shooting through both their minds as Sarah dived for the phone, allowing Joan to check on the Admiral.

"Medical to Admiral Thompson's office, immediately!"  
The clattering sound of running could be heard on the wooden floorboards leading to the Admirals office as the Nurse on the phone line replied, "Medical is already on its way" Medics burst into the room as Sarah put the phone down, and the Williams twins watched worried as the first thing the medics did was grab a blood sample, a nurse running straight out with it. That and the fact that the medics were already on their way when Sarah called had them wondering what the hell was going on. Joan started suddenly, Thompson was down, that left Peters in charge of the RSS and her in charge of the RSS facilities at St Athan. "Sis, get a message of to Thundersdawn immediately, critique priority, Message reads…" 

Thundersdawn

"…RSS Actual, call sign Elemental is down, effective immediately Joan Williams has taken command RSS St Athan. Effective immediately Captain Peters now senior RSS commander. Orders?" Peters lowered the message in shock, and glanced around the busy unaware command centre, she swallowed and turned back to the comm. officers station,

"Any more information?"  
"Another message coming through from GC now, Captain" the comm. officer replied quietly, she grabbed the printout as soon as it had finished spooling and passed it over, Peters grabbing it eagerly hoping, though not believing that this message would tell her it was all an April fools or something. "Thompson believed poisoned by NID agents aiming for disruption of RSS. Believe further disruptions likely, though not definite. Details follow" Peters cursed, swearing under her breath. This was bad; this was very, very bad. 


	9. Command

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 9: Command

Thundersdawn

Captain Peters curse silently as another wave of paperwork hit her desk, she knew Thompson would have lot more of this to deal with than even she did, but this was getting ridiculous. The RSS desperately needed more senior officers to spread the responsibility out more but high ranking officers who were not only cleared but passed the psych profile and could pass the particularly stringent medical were few and far between. At least the Williams twins knew all of the Admirals plans, and were dealing with as much of it as they could, but they lacked the seniority to deal with a lot of the essential details… Now that she could do something about.

"Ensign, get me a pair of Promotion forms and call Captain Ewian up from the _Indomitable_ to countersign"  
"Aye, Captain" the skinny ensign turned, and left leaving Peters alone to deal with the paperwork mountain. Let's see… another request from the Russians for _Dauntless_ specs and blueprints… Denied, officially we see no reason to provide those at this point in time, unofficially half your StarGate team works for the Russian Mafia and do you really think we want _Dauntless_ blueprints in their hands? One down… Standard requisitions from Nelson on the _Devonshire_, nice to know Thompson had briefed Nelson before the brown and sticky stuff hit the rotary impacting device, granted and glad the damage wasn't as severe as it first looked… Next, latest report on known NID operatives… looks long and boring, better leave that till tonight. Promotions list, read, sign to say it been read and pass the buck to personnel… Report from Chocky's homeworld on the relief efforts, better read that now. Damm, fifty-thousand confirmed dead, mostly the sick, elderly and the very young as usual. Infrastructure largely rebuilt in areas destroyed by debris from the mothership, and an updated and expanded defence grid made top priority by the locals… kinda like locking the barn doors after the horse has bolted but still… once bitten twice shy as they say. At least we will have a BIG favour to call in over there if we ever need it. Whats the place called anyway? Doesn't say… Chocky's recovering, good, friends like her are hard to find, Kalinda too, even better but… huh? They what? Chocky spent to long in Kalinda's body, and they now have a permanent connection? 

Okaayyyyyy. That should be interesting, especially to explain to her parents… Hehe, never happen but funny image anyways… Oh, well at least they aren't screaming for more supplies anymore, just letting us know it'll be another month minimum before the relief teams can be withdrawn. At least the local defence grid has been repaired, well what's left of it anyway so most of the fleet has been able to return to normal operations. Right, well that's done, sign it, outbox it, good, next one.

Final damage report from the Graving Dock fire, nothing new, sign it and outbox it. Final report on the full security sweep of the base, damm! Add a note, have inventory made manually of all explosives stores, there is no way in hell they smuggled all of that onboard. They had to have hit official supplies for a lot of it, sign it, outbox it. Note from accountancy, confirm intention to add a _Prometheus_ to the RSS rolls, Yes, as soon as the batch 2 design has been proven. Confirmation from the SGC, purchasing two _Dauntless'es_, nice, signed and outboxed. Phew, this is taking a while. An interruption, hurrah! "Come in!" Ahh… Ewain and the promotion forms. Quite happily countersigns to allow the Williams twins to be bumped two grades to full Commanders, obviously he's got a pretty good idea how much of the management of the RSS those two actually do. Damm, thank you for reminding me, Yes they got to Thompson in time; yes he will recover, how long? At least a month the doc's are saying, thank you and good bye. Strike one more job from the list. Now onto the next and… what now? Come in! Enerina's left, joint Tok'ra, Enerina, SGC mission? Fine, strike her off the available for system defence list, but remind yourself you're lucky to have her in the first place, good bye! Next, standard updates and requisitions from medical, another five moved to quarters well within the body of the station on medical grounds, well that will slow their assignment to a ship right down. Requistions… huh. We sure do go through a hell of a lot of those. That'll be the soldier boys again, when will they learn that everyone knows what they really use those for, its too keep water out of their guns for heavens sake, now if they were using them to keep err… water out of… ahem. Stopping that thought right there! Just sign it and outbox it. Good girl and next up is _Coalmine's_ production report. Still overproducing, good, that puts a nice bonus in the budget, selling the excess on. Pity it won't last, more we build, more we use and there goes the bonus. Ah well, sign it and outbox it. And next! 


	10. Hyperdrives

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 10: HyperDrives

Peters watched the screens out of the corner of her eye as _Liberty_ made its jump to the Alpha Centauri system, slowly vanishing into hyper, its cargo pods loaded with foundry equipment and scaffolding for the restoration of the former outpost of Ra to operational status. Brigadier General O'Neil had been screaming for these supplies for two months now, but with Merchant involved with relief efforts, there was no ship that could have delivered equipment intact to the system, the few hyper capable tugs the RSS had could have taken it sure, but not enclosed, which meant risking damage to the priceless equipment. It was hard enough to explain to the manufacturers what the Royal Navy had wanted it for in the first place, without having to get replacement parts so soon.

With a sigh, Peters turned her back to the endless supplies of paperwork lining her desk. For now at least she was still the senior officer of the RSS, and that had proven to mean she was on call 24/7, needed a mechanical digger to shift the paperwork, and was just itching for Thompson to return to duty. Another month or so, and you can go back to just worrying about the Sol system, not the whole RSS she consoled herself. 

Peters looked up from her paperwork with a groan as a knock sounded at her door, quickly she glanced at her clock, 0342, _Liberty_ should just be arriving at Alpha Centauri then.  
"Come in!" she croaked out, then cursed, and cleared her throat, clearer she shouted "Come in!"

Dodge entered the room, temporarily commanding _Thundersdawn_ despite his status as an SGC officer; Dodge had proven himself uncommonly capable, if a little unorthodox at times. She was glad to have him, except when he had that expression on his face. That expression just screamed 'problem' at her. "We just received a distress signal from _Liberty_. Their stuck in the interstellar gulf, a safety shut down their hyperdrives, they say it's a rebuild job"  
"Shit!" she cursed, and leaned backwards in her chair, "_Persephone_?"  
"Looks like the same problem Captain" Dodge paused, then added "and every single major hull, the _Prometheus's_, the _Dauntless's_, and the sole _Merchant_, they are all using the same basic engine design" Peters run her hands through her hair as she quickly ran through the options, "Okay, the small craft, any sign of the same problem there?"  
"Not as yet, but without _Persephone_ or _Liberty's_ engines to investigate, we don't really know how the problem is being caused in the first place" Dodge grimaced as he finished his Coffee, "we need to get those engines out and we need to strip them, and fast" "Okay, the _Yorktown_ is airtight and sound, only internal work left yes?"  
"Pretty much, you want to move her?" Dodge replied, his eyes flickering as he ran through the ships status, "Okay, she should be in good enough condition to be moved to an external airlock though it'll probably need a tug, I'll check, then have _Persephone_ moved into her bay"  
"What have you sent after _Liberty_?"  
"Apart from the hyper she's in perfect condition, so I've scrounged up a couple of Hyper tugs from Alpha to grab the_ Liberty's_ cargo pods and take them home with them, and I've sent one of ours after the ship herself"  
"Good, okay I don't think we need to issue an advisory about this drive issue yet, but have one prepped. Also talk to operations about keeping RSS and SGC ships within speaking distance of each other for the time being, we can't have them going off on their own if there is a possible drive issue. Also get the SGC's drive experts up here stat; you'll need to talk to Hammond and Carter about that"  
Dodge nodded, "I'll get right on it" Peters waited until Dodge reached the door, then smiling slightly she called out, "oh and Dodge?"  
"Yes Captain?"  
"The SGC is purchasing two _Dauntless'es,_ one batch 1 and a batch 2, we just got word from the SGC, the batch 2 is yours, congratulations"  
Dodge grinned, another ship, beautiful. And he would get to see it born too, which was even better.   
"Thank you, Captain"  
Peters smiled as the door closed behind Dodge and mentally began ticking off the seconds… "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhwhooooooooo!"  
Grinning, she turned back to her paperwork. 


	11. Rathouse Unearthed

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 11: Rathouse Unearthed

Lieutenant Commander Ryan David Richardson grimly looked though the front windows of the Paladin, the red combat lighting accenting the harsh lines of the cockpit around him. The Paladin was running silent, no sensors, and no radios just the old mark 1 mod 1 eyeball following the SAR Paladin ahead as it inched into the asteroid belt. The SAR bird was way out of bounds and heading for the NID controlled facility buried within the belt, the NID were now expecting a delivery of Naquadah, instead they were going to get a delivery of Special Forces troops. Lieutenant Richardson grinned ferally as the NID facility crawled into sight, time to deal with some rats.

The two Paladins surged forward, ignoring panicked calls from the facility as they closed as breakneck speed, before slamming the thrusters into reverse, slowing the craft whilst spinning it so the airlocks faced the NID station. With a shuddering jar, the Paladins force docked, quickly equalising their atmospheric pressures, before cracking the locks. The special forces troopers aboard the Paladins surged aboard the station, shrugging desultory fire off from the few shocked NID operatives waiting at the locks, they moved swiftly through the base, Zatting and securing the NID operatives as they moved. Within minutes, the entire facility was under RSS control. Richardson grinned as he removed the helmet of his spacesuit, too many scientists here and not enough soldiers, this had been easy. His grin widened as he sat down at a computer terminal in the central control room, it appeared no one had had the opportunity to trigger a computer core dump. They had an entire NID database intact for the first time, okay probably only the database of this cell but it was still a major intelligence coup. "Richardson to Thundersdawn actual, Facility captured with minimal resistance, be advised Mage looks intact, I repeat Mage intact" Richardson smiled as he imagined the shock that would be causing amonsgt the RSS hierarchy, hell to John Ryan when the head of Taskforce Lucifer was briefed. Mage intact, an intact NID computer core. Oh yes, that would raise some eyebrows, and certainly net him a promotion. 

Thundersdawn, 5 Hours Later

Dodge sipped his coffee slowly as he watched over the bustle of Thundersdawn's command centre. He didn't particularly like station board duty, but he could live with it, after all, it was space duty, and just didn't that look great on the résumé. At least he would be getting another ship, even if he did have to wait for it to be constructed…

"Conn, sensors, new contact just left hyper, sensor profile suggests Asgard O'Neill class"  
"Captain Peters to the bridge" Dodge flicked the intercom off, and rose from his seat, "Raise them"  
"Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Dodge aboard the RSS Thundersdawn, please identify yourself"  
The screen at the front of the command centre flicked on, causing Dodge to relax slightly as he saw the familiar face of Thor, commander of the Asgard fleet. "Captain Dodge, this is Thor, high Commander of the Asgard fleet. There is a critical situation we need to discuss with General Hammond and Admiral Thompson most urgently"  
"Hammond is at the SGC according to the schedule we have, Admiral Thompson is temporally unavailable due to illness, Peters has command of the RSS" Dodge replied, his tone concerned.  
"I will retrieve Hammond and return momentarily"  
The screen flickered off as Peters entered the room, "Captain Dodge?"  
"The Asgard are here, they say they have a critical problem they need to discuss with us"  
"Shit! Trouble" Peters cursed. 


	12. Treaties and Protection

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 12: Treaties and Protection

The room was solemn and quiet in the minutes following Thor's announcement. It was to be expected really, what with the successful defence of Earth by Earth naval forces, and the fact that for the first time ever, the space forces of the Tau'ri had gone on the offensive, throwing a Goa'uld out of a system he controlled, destroying his mothership in the process, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. The system lords had taken a vote and the result was unanimous, and their was nothing the Asgard could do about it. Earth was no longer a protected planet, they had proven they had the capability to defend themselves, and either the Asgard accepted that, or the entire treaty would be considered null and void by the Goa'uld. The Asgard had made the only decision they could, and removed Earth from the list of officially protected worlds.

Earth could now legitimately be attacked by the Goa'ulds at any time; the war had just taken a dangerous step forward. Not that the Asgard were abandoning Earth totally, not with the latest gift the Tau'ri had for the Asgard. Whilst Thompson was being up to speed by Captain Peters, the Asgard healing devices Thor had used on Thompson as usual had proven remarkably effective, dealing with the damage the poisons had caused in a minute without the assistance having even been asked for, Dodge had mentioned to Thor about the Asgard derelict found within the Alpha Centauri system and the largely mummified crew within, their bodies preserved by the cold of space ready for burial according to Asgard customs. But the real gift was not the knowledge of what happened to the ship, nor the bodies ready for burial, no, the real gift was the 34 operational and occupied stasis chambers buried within the holds. 34 Asgard, ready to rejoin a depleted race, 34 Asgard who would forever remember who found them, who moved their stasis chambers to a safe location, and who arranged extra power when their own started to run out. And a hull that might be in good enough condition to be refitted and returned to the overstretched Asgard fleet. No, for that and a thousand other reasons the Asgard were not going to be abandoning Earth soon, especially not with what they owed SG-1. But the nature of their relationship would have to change, the Asgard could no longer treat the Tau'ri as an inferior species in need of protection, even in the eyes of the Asgard they had proved that wasn't the case, no they would have to become allies, of a sort. The Asgard were talking a mutual defence pact. The RSS and SGC commanders weren't talking, they were just catching flies.  
  
Alpha Centauri 

General O'Neill grinned with pleasure as the characteristic glow of Asgard transporters filled his office; he quickly abandoned his paperwork and rose from the desk.  
"Thor, me old buddy, how's it going?"  
"O'Neill, it is good to see you, however I believe you have several 'gifts' for me"  
"Yesureyoubetcha" O'Neill grinned, "the ship is in one of the _Ha'tak_ sized bays, the one we haven't started work on yet, your friends are… oh about ten feet to your right"

Thor nodded, and tapped his communicator once, letting O'Neill know that Thor knew exactly where everything was, and was just waiting for permission.   
"You might want to inform your security…"  
O'Neill interrupted, "No need, already told them, soon as I heard you were in the area, so how is things with you?"  
"Getting better, have you heard about the new treaty yet?"  
"No, new treaty? I'm all ears…" 


	13. The Meaning Of Command

The Meaning Of Command

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 13: The Meaning Of Command

_Thundersdawn_

The _Thundersdawn_ security personnel looked on, their faces professional stony masks as the NID prisoners were led off in handcuffs, their faces showing none of their disgust, their contempt for the NID. They were professionals, and they would do their best to ensure these animals weren't allowed to get off on a technicality. They had caused the RSS too many problems for that, plus they were kind of hoping a rescue would be tried, or even an assignation of the prisoners. Then they would get to show the NID what an ambush really meant.

John Ryan watched the impassive faces of the Guards and grinned, he knew exactly what they were thinking, it probably wasn't that far from his own thoughts, but he had never got the hang of the impassive professional stony mask the RSS personnel were showing. He still tended to show his feelings to everyone around him despite his years at the CIA. And today, he couldn't help but grin. He was in space! He had dreamed, as most children did, of being an astronaut, of going into space as a child, but even in his wildest imaginings he never dared believe it would actually happen. And so he smiled, for today his dream had come true. Oh yeah, and he also had a lot of intelligence on public enemy number one just dumped into his lap, that too of course."Sir John" he turned as his voice was called, the mild British accent telling him it was station personnel before he saw who it was;  
"Captain Peters…" John paused as he noticed the changed uniform, "Commodore Peters, congratulations on your well deserved promotion"  
"Thank you, we are having additional cells and interrogation rooms set up for your use as we speak, your Quarters are on deck six section five, that's closed off for Taskforce Lucifer personnel and essential maintenance only. Headquarters has also assigned a _Paladin_ and pilots for your group's exclusive use whilst you are at _Thundersdawn_, barring emergencies. Just don't stray, its not exactly safe out there even at the best of times"  
"Thank you, now about…""Captain!" Peters turned at the shout, and saw the approaching Ensign flush as she saw the new rank markings, quickly Peters waved the apology off, it wasn't important.  
"Yes, Ensign?"  
"Commodore, _Yorktown_ has been secured at Airlock 3, engineering is crawling all over the graving dock and estimates 12 hours until it will be ready for _Persephone_ to use. Hold 3 has been cleared and the HyperDrive investigation team is setting up now, but environmental wishes me to remind you that they can't install the upgraded environmental systems stored in hold 1 whilst the station is full to capacity as it almost is now. Environmental is recommending either we shift people off station, and soon or risk an environmental systems failure"  
"Knows how to sugar coat it doesn't he?" Peters said, a wry grin splitting her face, "Okay, dismissed Ensign"  
"If you need anything Sir John, command will always know where to find me" Peters shouted over her shoulder as she walked swiftly from the room.

GC St Athan

Admiral Thompson smiled as he sat back down in his seat at his desk. A desk at which he had so recently collapsed, only being saved by the fact that the medical teams had already been sent before he had collapsed. He liked this desk, and he had to say, he was grateful to Thor for returning him to it so soon. He would have been fit to return to it eventually sure, but that would have left Peters in command of the RSS for far longer than he would have liked. She was a very capable Captain sure, and she would be a capable Commodore, but she was not quite ready for permanent command of the RSS, she was not ready to be an Admiral in this infant service.

But she was learning, had learned in fact. This taste of the larger picture had been unplanned but it had left its mark on the relatively young commodore. She had for the first time, taken responsibility for sending her people out, possibly to their deaths, okay no-one had actually died during the assault on the NID facility but she had taken responsibility for it anyway. That was a big step forward, up till now only he Admiral Thompson had been giving the orders that led to people's deaths. Now, Peters had shown she had the capability at last. She had had it all along sure, but now it was proven to the doubters.She had also successfully commanded the helm of the great ship that was the RSS through several quite genuine emergencies, his collapse, the move on the NID, the _Liberty _finally proving the HyperDrives were faulty and she had responded responsibly to each and everyone. Peters would be ready to succeed him when he retired; she had shown she knew the meaning of command.


End file.
